heath Posted January 17, 2005 Report Share Posted January 17, 2005 Howdy All, Been just sittin here readin posts for the last couple of months. I started on my first guitar about a month ago and have made some progress on it. I call it the War Shrike. It is made of a three piece laminate for the neck, consisting of Maple-Walnut-Maple. The fretboard is bocote and will have ebony, MOP, walnut, and maple inlays. The body wings are made up of maple, walnut, and a quilted maple/mahogany veneer. The wings aren't glued on just yet, I clamped them on the guitar for a look to see what final shaping needed to be performed, plus any further jointing procedures that were needed. I haven't decided on electronics yet, but the bridge will be a standard hardtail like the Hipshot hardtail bridge. The initial design idea was to make the body look like a bird of prey swooping down with the wings back and the claws outstretched in front to grab whatever poor animal happened to cross it's path. Please give some feedback on this project. It has been fun and relaxing just to work on it, and I think that has been the best part. Thanks, Heath Guitar Photos Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gregory Posted January 17, 2005 Report Share Posted January 17, 2005 wow that laminate looks awesome, what are you going to use for a finish. Good idea for a body shape too Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heath Posted January 17, 2005 Author Report Share Posted January 17, 2005 I'll be using the stain black sand back technique. I'll be using a brown stain. Its called dark mission brown I believe. The rest of the guitar will probably just be stained the brown color without staining black first. I was going to do a sanding sealer over top of the stain, but I didn't see any point in laying down some sanding sealer if I am going to put tons of laquer on it. I think that will seal all the pores in the walnut and mahogany nicely. I am wondering what I should do with the headstock surface. I was thinking of overlaying some of the veneer I made for the body onto it. I may do a black laquer coat on it then just gloss it up if I don't have enpough veneer left over. Thanks for the compliments. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
!!METAL MATT!! Posted January 17, 2005 Report Share Posted January 17, 2005 Cool I like the body design But I'am not sure if I like as An eletric guitar body design, to me It would make a great look'en bass guitar body and you have some realy nice wood there I realy like the quilted maple !!METAL MATT!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heath Posted January 17, 2005 Author Report Share Posted January 17, 2005 Believe it or not, I orginally had a Gibson Firebird in mind when i started planning the shape. I am going to probably thin the horns out, and do some additional shaping to them to get everything like I want. I forgot to mention earlier that the hardware will be black. I've already started to build the next guitar also, it will be called the Pheonyx. It's going to be made out of poplar, padauk, redheart, and white oak. I'll be getting two necks from the blank I glued up. There are a few pics of the wood in with the pics of the War Shrike. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meegs666 Posted January 17, 2005 Report Share Posted January 17, 2005 i love it. those are some great inlays too. nice body shape. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heath Posted January 18, 2005 Author Report Share Posted January 18, 2005 I did a little shaping on the upper horn today. I thinned it down some but I'm not sure if it is thin enough for my liking yet. I also tooks some pics of the grain accentuated with some water. I hadn't done this before so it's my first time seeing the grain this way. Body shot 1 Body shot 2 Just for a perspective standpoint, I wanted to point out the body is at most 12inches across, and I think 17 or 18 inches tall. I think the pics make it look bigger than it really is. I'll post some pics in the album showing a ruler next to the body. Width Height On a side note, Once I looked at the design after it was drawn up, I noticed that it looked like a fenderized BC Rich or something. So much for originality, but I like the design anyway. Heath Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heath Posted January 18, 2005 Author Report Share Posted January 18, 2005 Here is a new pic of the Body(not glued) . Does anyone else think the upper horn may need to go on a diet? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CudBucket Posted January 19, 2005 Report Share Posted January 19, 2005 I like it. Just wish the racing stripes were closer to the center so you didn't have to cut through them at the body waist. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
litchfield Posted January 19, 2005 Report Share Posted January 19, 2005 The trble horn looks jagged Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mickguard Posted January 19, 2005 Report Share Posted January 19, 2005 Okay, I admit, I don't like the name...the shape of the guitar is pretty interesting though, and definitely captures that swooping bird thing. I think the upper (bass) horn looks fine-- it's the lower (treble) horn that has a problem. On the top it isn't rounded and underneath I think there should be a bit more of a curve. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heath Posted January 20, 2005 Author Report Share Posted January 20, 2005 The treble horn was going to be the next kink to work out, so todayI cut and sanded some and I think I got it lookin better. As far as the name goes, I might be flexable, I just can't come up with anything that satisfies. How about 'Kickin Chickin'. Kinda has a little spunk to it. I also ditched the bocote fretboard for a later project, and decided to go with cocobolo(don't know if thats spelled right). I like the way it looks with the mahogany and the brown stain. Here are a few more pics. pic1 pic2 Heres a 8/4 piece of quilted maple i got for $30: maple Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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